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Police contain near brawl

East Athens chase

Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2005

By Joe Johnsonjoe.johnson@onlineathens.com

A riot nearly erupted in East Athens on Thursday night as Athens-Clarke police officers threatened to pepper spray an angry crowd that was closing around, after the police chased and captured a teen who was speeding through area streets, police said.

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One officer was slightly injured and a rock was hurled at a police car during the near-melee on Nellie B Avenue, according to police.

In addition to the teen, two other people were arrested, one for inciting an angry crowd that had gathered at the scene and another for cursing at officers who were trying to find out who threw the rock that damaged the cruiser, according to police.

The incident began at about 9:30 p.m. when an officer saw a gray Chevrolet Caprice speeding near the intersection of East Carver and Cone drives. When the officer chased after the car, the driver stopped on Nellie B Avenue and ran into the nearby Nellie B Homes public housing complex, police said.

As the officer chased the teen through the complex, the two collided as they rounded the corner of a building in opposite directions, briefly knocking out the officer, police said.

All the officer could recall of the incident was that before he passed out, he radioed for an ambulance because he and the teen both were injured, police said.

While EMTs treated the teen, identified as Martavis Ledrico Watkins, 18, of 150 W. Carver Drive, a crowd of about 50 people gathered, police said. Some of them cursed at the officers and chanted "East Side, East Side," according to police.

Police have said there are groups of teens and young men - one with ties to the east side of Athens and others with ties to the west side - who are involved in a rivalry that sometimes turns violent.

One teen in the crowd - Terry O'Brien Watkins, 18, of 160 Herman St. - walked into the middle of the road, loudly cursed at the officers and slammed a drink onto the ground, according to police.

"His conduct was inciting the crowd toward a riot situation," one officer wrote in a report.

While they tried to arrest Terry Watkins, whose relation to Martavis Watkins was not mentioned, the teen struggled with two officers.

He "was aggressively pulling and pushing us around," according to police, who said officers eventually subdued Watkins, handcuffed him and rushed him to a police car to get him away from the area to calm down the crowd.

After officers placed him in the rear of a patrol car, however, Terry Watkins kicked out one of the windows, police said.

"This action further incited the crowd," police said. "They again shouted 'East Side' over and over. More and more people ran to the scene, which was now out of control."

Terry Watkins, who has the words "East Side" tattooed on both arms, was charged with simple battery on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct, interference with government property and obstruction, police said.

As other officers arrived to help control the increasingly agitated crowd, a rock was thrown at a sergeant's car, and it glanced off the driver's side window and broke the side-view mirror, police said.

While officers looked for the person responsible, police said, 37-year-old Alma Jean Brightwell started to curse at them, and she struggled with the officer who arrested her on charges of disorderly conduct, obstruction and simple battery on a law enforcement officer, police said.

As the crowd began to close in on the officers, according to police, the officers threatened to use pepper spray, causing the crowd to back off.

Both Martavis Watkins and the officer with whom he collided were taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor injuries, police said.

Police were seeking arrest warrants to charge the teen with reckless driving, improper transfer of tags, driving without a license and obstruction.